All posts by Cruz Ramiro

Cruz Ramiro- local news journalist and editor-in-chief. Worked in various media such as: EL Mundo, La Vanguardia, El País.
SPAIN

Shifts in Spanish Politics: A Structural Transformation in Governance

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In recent days, a meme has circulated in which a supposed PSOE voter from Extremadura is perplexed when he realizes that his vote will help Carles Puigdemont’s party, Junts, have a parliamentary group in Congress.

That is more or less what is going to happen tomorrow, after the Socialists have ceded four of their deputies to him so that he reaches the minimum required and can thus obtain significant economic considerations and more parliamentary autonomy.

It was one of the demands of the independentistas to support an eventual investiture of Pedro Sánchez. The meme with the face of the confused Extremaduran socialist was very funny. But unfortunately also implausible.

Because, unlike what happened in the two 2019 elections, the PSOE voter in those of July 23 knew perfectly well what Pedro Sánchez’s plans were.

He knew that, in the event that the right did not add a sufficient majority, Sánchez would seek the support of Sumar, the PNV and the independentistas to be sworn in and then legislate.

Perhaps the most optimistic thought that it would not be necessary to court Junts, but obviously, if it were, the PSOE was going to do it.

In fact, the PSOE voter —and perhaps any voter as well— knew that Pedro Sánchez was not going to be particularly careful when it came to seeking support: he would try to get all the support he needed, those who were.

Because that is the new structural reality of Spanish politics: that the left will only be able to govern with the support of the independence movement.

The PSOE, which is the most effective machine for generating political narratives in Spain, will say that it is a commitment to harmony, or an opportunity to resolve territorial conflicts, or whatever else it thinks its voters will find acceptable, but it’s something else.

Since the two big parties have decided that they are not going to support each other in parliament in any case, much less form a great coalition, it has become a destination. And, contrary to what many want to think, it will be for a long time.

Not just character

A relevant part of public opinion has taken to attributing much of what happens in Spanish politics, and particularly on the left, to the character of Sánchez. He is capable of anything to stay in power —he repeats himself—, he has no qualms about lying, he has betrayed the ideology of his party to survive.

All this has a lot of truth. But these traits are applicable to a greater or lesser extent to all politicians who govern without sufficient majorities.

And, in recent times, it has become the perfect excuse for those who do not want to see that a change has taken place in our political system that will be lasting.. The stage that emerged with the 1978 Constitution can last, and it is desirable that it do so.

But it has changed profoundly. The time for absolute majorities is over (in the nine legislatures, between 1982 and 2015, there were five).

The time has come to an end when the two big parties could rely on the moderate nationalist parties in a timely manner (this is what happened in the other four).

The possibility of more or less lasting transversal agreements has ended (surely the last case was the approval of article 155 in 2017). The system was not meant to work with two permanent blocks unable to cooperate, but it will have to learn to operate like that because that is now its core feature.

Unlike Sánchez, however, Alberto Núñez Feijóo seems not to have realized this structural transformation.. Or, rather, he has not resigned himself to it.

Feijóo acts as if that earthquake only affected the left and he could continue acting like the good old days. Hence his untimely attempt to negotiate with the PNV, or even with Junts, the support for his investiture at the end of September. Perhaps it is simply a show of parliamentary courtesy. In that case, it’s appreciated.

But if someone in the PP believes that they can get the support of those who are already members of the other structural block, or that in the future they will have some other option than to govern with the support of Vox, they are living trapped in a past mentality..

That tomorrow the table of Congress approves that the PSOE lend deputies to Junts so that it has its own parliamentary group is almost the least of it. And the character of the current president is a very influential element, but only temporary, of our democracy.

What is really relevant is that this has been transformed in a structural way and that, as long as the two big parties refuse to cooperate, any PSOE leader of the future will have to act in a very similar way to that of Sánchez.

In the same way, there will come a time when Feijóo or whoever replaces him at the head of the PP will realize that there is no way to avoid doing everything or almost everything with Vox.

And just as the PSOE voter forgives his alliances, the PP voter will forgive him. As much as rivals laugh at them in memes.

Of course, none of this is good news. In reality, they are quite bad, both for the governance of the country and for its stability and for the advancement of centrist and moderate policies.

But it is what we Spaniards have given ourselves and we should not blame anyone else for it. Although sometimes it is really tempting to attribute it to the exasperating and often harmful character of the president.

SPAIN

Ten Principles for Being a Real Man: A Call for Respect and Accountability

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One. Learn to behave like a vase man. Every time the spotlight is on her(s), do whatever it takes to make her shine up. I mean, don’t do anything. Zero shadows: don’t get in the shot, don’t interrupt. Be polite.

Withdraw without withdrawing your attention. It’s their time, not yours. You are not more important. Take a step back and bask in your happiness.

Of the. Always respect their space (and their spaces), even more so when you have a hierarchical position of power. Do what’s right, be right.

No euphoric state justifies impoliteness. Internalizing that principle entails assuming, of course, that no episode of anger or rage legitimizes you to act like an animal..

Three. Listen to anyone who tells you that you may have acted inappropriately. Being a real man consists (among many other things) in knowing that one cannot always be right, that listening is necessary and that the discomfort generated should never be underestimated, be empathic.

It could be your mother, it could be your sister, it could be your partner and it could also be your daughter.

Four. Apologize immediately: Take full responsibility, with no nuances and no excuses. Be straight. Blaming the woman who feels assaulted or abused is very demeaning for her, but also for you (even if you are the least of it).

No alibi is admissible, all increase the damage you have caused and reduce your honor to rubble. Even more so when the profile is public and there is an obligation not to set a bad example.

Five. Always keep in mind that only a wretch victimizes himself. Be whole. This resource, so typical of the violent aggressor, so rudely narcissistic, shows that you have not understood anything, that you do not feel concerned about what happened and that, as a consequence, you may commit a similar mistake in the future.

Six. Never resort to any kind of diversionary maneuver. Your case is your case. If you are an adult to make your mistake, you are also an adult not to dilute your guilt. Be fair.

Of course, feminism is not living its best moment, but this evidence does not make machismo any less despicable and, needless to say, it does not provide a certificate of impunity for committing macho acts.

Attacking feminists to normalize abuse encourages the worst violence and that deserves unequivocal social repudiation.

Seven. No hiding behind anyone. Not with the subordinates, less with the couple and, of course, never after the daughters. Doing it is not clean, it is not decent and it will bring bills in the future.

The first apology is due to the victim and the second, to all the women who accompany you. Put to genitalize, the true balls are shown when facing adversity with a minimum of dignity. Be brave.

Eight. Try to understand that manhood is about protecting and that machismo causes the exact opposite, suffering. be thoughtful. If you can only offer an egotistical manual of resistance to your environment, your organization and your country, you are a defeated and destructive type. Be generous.

If nothing matters more to you than your ass, you can’t conceive of the damage you’re generating around you, you can’t realize that you’ve become a problem and you can’t detect that your salvation has already become impossible, so you’ll dig deeper.

Nine: integrity is demonstrated by raising one’s voice in the face of any aggression, especially in the face of abuse of power and, above all, when the person who breaks the silence is downstairs.

Always be accomplices of courageous women and encourage others. We have to accompany them all, shoulder to shoulder but one step behind. There are few players who have shown the essential solidarity that their teammates deserve, they do have manhood. Everyone else, including everyone on my team, has yet to learn many of the most valuable things in life.

Ten: Manhood is demonstrated by pushing away the man who behaves disrespectfully. be honest. Looking the other way, laughing at the joke, celebrating or applauding the unacceptable implies acting in a herd mode and that reduces man to the level of a sheep.

It is the image left by the assembly of Spanish football and those foundations must be changed. Calculating money, compromising, letting yourself be subjugated by a superior without moral authority, implies sinking into the deepest and most irreparable poverty. You will forever be slaves. No one can be free if you don’t defend the freedom of women.

It’s a shame to have to tell it at this point. Let’s see if at least our children manage to internalize what our mothers wanted to transmit to us. I am writing this so that mine can read it and know, tomorrow, how to behave like a real man.

SPAIN

Navigating Chaotic Roommate Experiences: Sharing Spaces and Diverse Lives

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“Girls wanted, preferably”. It was one of the phrases that Julián, a 25-year-old teacher, had to hear most frequently during his search for a flat in Córdoba.

At that time (from this story about four years ago), I shared an apartment in the Andalusian city with two other people (boy and girl) and they all wanted to move.

After several refusals and many headaches, he decided to ask one of the landlords the reason for that decision. The answer was emphatic: “They are cleaner, more orderly”.

Julián’s testimony is not anecdotal. There are several men who, when asked during the preparation of this article, have said that, when looking for a space in a shared apartment, they always have to lose.

The data supports his statements: according to figures from Idealista, in the community of Madrid, one of those with the most stressed rents in the entire country, there are 2.8 apartments exclusively for girls for every apartment only for boys, almost triple.

The trend extends to other provinces with similar housing problems, such as the Balearic Islands, Valencia, Barcelona or Malaga.

The latter has the highest percentage of flats only for girls of all those analysed, with almost a third of the offer dedicated solely to them, while the former is the most equal.

Even so, the houses inhabited only by women double those that are exclusively for men.

Although the most common thing in sharing ads is for the apartment to be mixed, there are times when there is a clear preference for girls.

In fact, it is not uncommon to find in these ads texts like the following, found among shared apartments in Barcelona:

“Hello! We are looking for a girl for our apartment […]. It is essential that the girl is working and is for a long term (minimum one year). We are two Spanish girls and three boys”.

This other advertisement, to live together in a family home in Alpedrete (Madrid), has the same structure: “A room for rent for one or two people […]. preferably female.

There is no problem if there is a minor […]. There are three people on the floor: my partner, my mother and I”.

In general, rental prices in Spain have skyrocketed since the end of the pandemic. Many are those who, once the university period is over, are forced to continue sharing a flat because their economic situation does not allow them another type of home.

Antonio Carroza, president of Alquiler Seguro, supports this argument and adds that it is evident that “the general rise in prices and a deterioration in the working conditions of the population have caused the age at which young people can go to live to be delayed alone”.

In Spain, young people emancipate themselves at the age of 30, on average, one of the latest ages in the countries of the European Union, according to Eurostat figures.

Added to the scarcity in the offer for the male gender are other no less important questions: What are those flats that men live in? Do they pay more or less than women? How many people live?

The characteristics vary considerably depending on the province in question. In the case of Madrid, the rooms for women have an average price of 418.4 euros, while for men they amount to 431.2.

Barcelona is the one that presents the greatest divergences in this sense, since they pay an average of 800 euros, while they do not even touch 500.

In other places, like Malaga, size is the jarring element. While the girls’ flats have an average surface area of 133.5 m², the boys’ flats remain at 102.1.

This is also the average size of the masculine houses in Valencia, while those of the opposite gender tend to be about 10 m² larger.

The Balearic Islands is the one with the least distance between the two genres because the prices are, in both cases, much higher than in the rest of the country.

With the statistical issue resolved and the data agreeing with the men who regret having fewer rental options, it remains to try to understand how these differences are achieved.

Do women avoid sharing a flat with men? Do men really have a hard time finding a flat? What role do landlords play in all this? Aren’t girls also problematic?

Carroza estimates that the main criteria when looking for a partner are common preferences and tastes:

“More than girls looking for other girls to live with, in our files we have ads that give more weight to criteria such as age or origin.

For example, there are student flats that come from the same place because that gives them some confidence. In the end, you want people to contribute something to you”.

However, other people believe that the difference between being a partner or a partner is the most important thing..

“The Boys (Straight): Sucks”

Claudia, 32, lives in Madrid and is looking for a partner to live with. She works in the technology sector and already spends eight hours a day in a team of ten people in which she is the only woman. So when she gets home, she prefers to indulge in a bit of “girly energy for a change.”.

For her, in addition, there is another important factor in her preference for girls to share a flat, which consists in avoiding the possibility of the relationship becoming sexualized:

“I have not exactly experienced this with a flatmate, but people from my close environment, such as roommates of my couples or work colleagues, have developed small crushes for me on some occasions, with a situation that even became unpleasant”.

Nor would she have any problems living with gay boys, with whom “she has never felt violated”.

The testimony of Marcos (fictitious name since he prefers not to identify himself), who has shared a house for several years in the capital, is no less surprising.

The young man, 25 years old, works in a magazine. A few years ago he had a “somewhat difficult” experience with a colleague.

After a rather tense situation that lasted over time, the girl ended up punching the other member of the household and threw a clothesline at Marcos himself.

After this, they did not see each other again.. Despite the seriousness of the facts, he acknowledges that this moment was no worse than the only time he had lived with a “straight man”, which he qualifies as “the worst of all.”.

Two months of suffering

At the other end of the spectrum was Fran, a 25-year-old worker in the technology sector who, after living in Seville for four years, decided to change her environment and find a new home:

“It took me two months to find something decent, because that everything that was available at a normal price was only for girls or students”.

It also points out that the mixed apartments were “in worse areas” or had a higher price.

Something similar happened to Manuel, 18, who a few weeks ago went to Granada with three friends looking for a flat to share in his first year of university.

They saw four without any success. The landlords refused because they “preferred girls over boys”. When they asked why, one of them dropped that “boys always mess up more”.

María, currently an occupational therapist, also had a similar experience during her university years. He shared a flat in Malaga with three girls until the third year of his degree, when a friend of his asked him to occupy the room that had been left free.

Although in this case they had no problem, their landlady was quite reticent, since she maintained that “a boy is not going to take care of the apartment because boys are not usually very clean.”. María clarifies that in the end they not only succeeded, but the following year they all repeated.

Refuse boys to take care of investment

Sometimes, the landlords themselves veto the boys, as happened to Manuel or María’s friend, for issues related to cleanliness or tranquility.

The president of Alquiler Seguro points out that some owners consider that male tenants may pose a “little point of risk”, since “men tend to have more parties or take less care of the furniture”.

Alfredo has a flat for rent in Arganzuela (Madrid) where a girl currently lives and is looking for someone to occupy the spare room. On another occasion, he would not care about the gender of the new tenant, but in this case he is looking for a woman:

“There is currently a very young Argentinian girl who has just arrived in Spain in the apartment and I thought that she would be more comfortable with someone of the same gender. […]. It has nothing to do with cleanliness, tranquility or customs. I just think that this way I can make life easier for the girl.”.

And what about women?

The short answer to the question Are women never the problem? is no and the case of Eva is a representative example. The young woman began to share a flat in Madrid almost a decade ago and clearly remembers her worst experiences, all with girls, which are now her “best stories when having a drink”.

The first case, that of a classmate from the residence hall where she had been the first year and who offered her to share a flat. Although she already knew that the girl was a disaster, she did not expect how far things could go:

“We had to clean up after her. There was a table in the living room where she used to study and cleaning I found a piece of toast attached to some notes from January. We were, at least, in April […] The thing is that I loved that girl a lot because she was a very good aunt, but to live… well bad “.

Helena, a 22-year-old student, also experienced unpleasant situations not long after, when she decided it was a good idea to go live with four other friends she had just met at her residence: “It was one of the most chaotic decisions I’ve ever made”.

Coexistence deteriorated over time due to the incompatibility of the tenants, to the point of creating two completely opposing sides (at the level of a pitched battle).

Helena herself acknowledges that “going to live with interests so different from yours and without really knowing them is very difficult”. Her landlord did not allow boys because “girls are usually cleaner”.

One of his last experiences, it was with a boy and he admits that, although living together was going well, “you could tell that he was a man, especially when it came to cleaning”, which makes him “a little angry”.

The apartment was located in Carabanchel, an area of Madrid where apartments exclusively for girls account for more than a third of the total offer.

The data reflects this trend in other districts on the periphery, such as Moratalaz, Vallecas, Hortaleza or Vicálvaro, where this figure shoots up to 40.7%..

The definitive statement that could settle all controversy is perhaps that of Laura, a media employee who, at 29, has finally stopped sharing a flat: “Since I live alone, I no longer want to live with anyone”.

However, the current situation does not seem to change the most popular way of life (by obligation) of the young and the not so young who, when they can no longer cope with their partner, can only roll the dice again and wait for have better luck.

SPAIN

Free Metro Trips for Recharge Compensations: Madrid’s Public Transport Updates

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  • “Today I still haven’t sold anything”: the harsh reality of small drugstores in Madrid
  • Almeida will decide at the beginning of the course if he remunicipalizes the private management of the M-30

One of the most popular ways to get around in Madrid is, without a doubt, the metro.. Proof of this is that, during the month of April, more than 54 million people used the service of this public transport.

And it is that, throughout the day, the capital has a multitude of trains that transport citizens from one point of the town to another at high speed.

Regarding this matter, people who recharged their transport pass in January of this year are entitled to the return of two free trips as a compensatory measure for not receiving the classic discount at the beginning of 2023.

This proposal has been carried out by the Regional Transport Consortium. Said organization offers these two routes free of charge for each recharge of the subscription that the applicant has made from January 1 to January 31 and can be exchanged until October 31.

Through this process, citizens who use the metro will be returned two trips for every ticket out of ten trips that have been registered at the beginning of this year.

During the month of June, the regional government announced a 60% reduction in the price of transport passes, in addition to 50% in the case of multi-trip tickets.

This provision began during the month of February, seeking to recover the discount that was not applied in those periods.

How to redeem free rides

In order to redeem these free trips, we must go to the website of the Regional Transport Consortium.

In it we can check if we meet the requirements to obtain this compensation. First we must insert the 14-digit code found on the Madrid public transport card.

In addition, if the return consists of more than one ticket or more than 20 trips, it is possible to go to the Consortium management offices to carry out the process..

On the other hand, management may be requested in a tobacconist or in establishments that have the power to sell these titles.

If the user has a mobile device with the built-in Android system, they can request them through the Travel Refund application (D2V)

The extension of this public transport discount in Madrid will keep the current prices until December 2023.

This means that the 30-day Youth Pass will continue to cost 8 euros, that of zone A, 21.80 euros, that of zone B1, 25.40 euros, and that of zone B2, 28.80 euros..

SPAIN

Luis de Oteyza: The Innovator of Journalism and Investigative Narratives

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His name was Luis de Oteyza, he was a poet, writer, journalist, adventurer, director of the newspaper La Libertad, representative of the Radical Party and ambassador to Venezuela.. He was also an innovator, pioneer of radio, investigative and data journalism and used the book and radio as new platforms, new journalistic narratives.

That journalism of Oteyza, Kapuscinski, with added and intentional value, as Nacho Cardero, the director of El Confidencial, always reminds us, is what we practice in the Master of El Confidencial with the techniques and tools of the present: investigative journalism, new narratives , data, transparency, fact-cheking (verification) and artificial intelligence.

In August 1922, 101 years ago, he interviewed the Riffian leader Abd el-krim El Khattabi in Axdir (near Al Hoceima, today Morocco, yesterday Spanish Protectorate), in enemy territory.

A year earlier, on July 21, 1921, the Annual disaster occurred, where more than 12,000 Spanish soldiers died and Oteyza wanted to know how, why, who was responsible for that massacre, the level of corruption of the Spanish Army in the Protectorate and, above all, what was going to happen to the 491 Spanish soldiers that the Riffian leader had turned into his prisoners (147 died during captivity).

All this happened between July 1921 and August 1922.. And during that time the newspaper La Libertad sold an average of 230,000 copies in a country with 43.3% illiteracy and no transport infrastructure for the newspapers to reach all of Spain. Oteyza also founded Radio Libertad and was director of Wireless Telegraphy.

After the Annual disaster, Oteyza wanted to know and went to the root of the conflict, to the material author of that massacre, Abd el-Krim himself.

The director of La Libertad left his office, put on his reporter’s boots and formed and directed the first investigative team for a Spanish newspaper: Alfonso Sánchez, Alfonsito (photographer), José Díaz, Rafael Hernández and Teresa de Escoriaza (first woman sent special to a war).

The meeting, face to face, between Abdelkrim and Oteyza took place on August 2, 1922, after multiple vicissitudes to cross enemy lines.

Alfonso Sánchez, Alfonsito, raised graphic testimony of that scoop, exclusive between the journalist and the fearsome Riffian leader.

Oteyza collected data, verified the facts, and obtained documentation to offer his newspaper readers and point out who was responsible for the Annual disaster.

He spoke with Abd el-Krim and with the Spanish prisoners (soldiers, chiefs and officers) that the Riffian leader was holding captive:

–The Rif does not hate the Spanish people, and it would never have hated them if it were not for the military invasion.

Abd el-Krim also set conditions for the release of the prisoners:

-That four million pesetas be delivered.

Oteyza did not limit himself to “go, see and tell”. Oteyza acted as an investigative and data journalist, looked for the evidence and turned his reports into notitia in criminis so that the Spanish people knew what happened and how it happened.

And, later, he compiled his reports and interviews, which he published throughout the month of August 1922 in the newspaper La Libertad and later in a book: Abdelkrim and the prisoners.

In reality, Oteyza was a committed journalist, intentional. The Spanish Ryszard Kapuscinki of the 20th century already practiced the informative philosophy that Nacho Cardero, director of El Confidencial, and the Master of Investigative Journalism, New Narratives, Data and Verification of this newspaper defend today:

he worked and investigated so that his information, reports , denunciations and disclosure of corruption would serve to change something in Spanish society.

The historian Rosa de Madariaga vindicated the figure and good journalistic work of the director of La Libertad in her book Spain and the Rif (2000):

“Luis de Oteyza reflected live, direct and sincere testimonies. When he set out to tell the Spanish public the four truths, courageously and honestly exposing the reality of some facts that were carefully hidden or presented distorted. That is why he drew the hostility of most of his colleagues “.

And when Oteyza felt persecuted, censored and gagged for his way of doing and living journalism – the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and the purchase of the newspaper La Libertad by the businessman Juan March – he took a plane, in the company of the photographer Alfonso Sánchez , Alfonsito, and went around the world, in the image and likeness of another of our great journalists: Manu Leguineche.

Asia, Europe, Africa, America… These were some of the continents where Oteyza applied the journalistic formula that Kapuscinski later practiced: “Be, see, hear, share and think”. His chronicles and reports became books and he did journalism and literature.

When Oteyza returns from one of his long trips, From Spain to Japan (1927), he reflects and writes: “Everything is the same / it seems like it was yesterday / the day I left…/”.

And he clarifies: “The panorama that, for some time now, we Spaniards have been enjoying bores me, bores me deeply, bores me to despair (…) I am going to see new horizons expand before my eyes. I will see other people and other customs…”.

And resume your adventures by plane. Formula that was later copied by others such as the teacher Manuel Chaves Nogales. In Cabo Juby, while he was traveling to Senegal for the Madrid newspaper Heraldo, he met Antoine Saint-Exupery, pilot, head of the French Aeropostal station in that city and writer of El Aviador, Vuelo Nocturno and El Principito.

In Tarfaya, next to Cabo Gaby, there is currently an air museum in memory of Saint-Exupery.

In 1928, after finishing his African adventure, Oteyza wrote the book To Senegal by Plane, In Remote Cipango, The Magic Tapestry, The Treasure of Cuauhtemoc…

Oteyza, declared a Republican, was a deputy -only for a few months in 1923 for Huelva and on behalf of the Radical party after denouncing in La Libertad the conditions of misery and slavery in which the miners of Riotinto lived.

In 1933, after his comings and goings around half the world, he published La tierra es redonda. Later he was appointed Plenipotentiary Minister by the Republic, first in Peru and later in Venezuela..

In 1936, when the Civil War began, he abandoned his diplomatic career and moved to New York.. And from there he began to collaborate with the most important media in Latin America: El Excelsior (Mexico), Crítica (Argentina), El Diario de la Marina (Cuba).

Later, he settled in Cuba for two years and ended up in Venezuela, where he founded the literary magazine Sábado – which was published in Colombia – and was commissioned to assemble a collection of books on Venezuelan authors called Biblioteca Popular..

Manuel Chaves Nogales and Luis de Oteyza were two leaders and competitors of journalism at that time and their literary and journalistic works, such as Juan Belmonte and El diablo blanco, were translated into English and used in different foreign universities as a manual for learning Spanish.

The teacher Kapuscinski used to say that “true journalism is that of live contact with people and with situations”.

This direct knowledge constitutes the basis of serious reporting and with literary ambitions. This reflection of Kapuscinski’s was already used by Oteyza in his work and Ramón Lobo, a benchmark for committed and intentional journalism and who left us on August 2, captured it in his life and in his book The day Kapuscinski died.

SPAIN

Political Maneuvering and Negotiations Surrounding Feijóo’s Government Formation Efforts

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The King’s commission to Alberto Núñez Feijóo to try to form a government not only activates the electoral counter.

It also limits to one month the term that the PP leader has to seek the four supports that he lacks to save a sufficient majority that will take him to Moncloa. It is not an easy task.

In fact, it is “almost impossible”, according to important party leaders. But Feijóo, they say in the national leadership of the party, must “fight until the end” and seek the votes, if necessary, from under the stones.

The popular leader is already putting together his contact agenda, which he will launch starting next week.

One of the clear and primary objectives that they contemplate in Genoa is to invite the acting head of the Executive to a formal meeting with the candidate for the investiture. Go or not, they understand in the PP, the offer is intended to show who was “the winner of the elections” and who was “the loser”.

The party has no hope that Sánchez will accept Feijóo’s outstretched hand in any way to allow a government in the minority of the most voted list, the proposal that the popular leader defended over and over again during the electoral campaign.

The popular ones assume that the socialist leader maneuvers in parallel to tie his own parliamentary majority, with the help of nationalists and independentistas.

This Wednesday, without going any further, both Sumar and the PSOE have assigned two deputies each to ERC and Junts so that they have their own group in the Lower House.

But the PP still harbors some hope. Genoa celebrates that Francina Armengol has given in to her proposal to delay the investiture session to September 26 and 27, and they reiterate that if they already considered the vote lost, they would have asked to end a debate as soon as possible in the last week of August to force elections before Christmas.

It was the initial roadmap, but the PP has recovered some optimism after achieving the King’s order. “We have to negotiate. Everything is possible”, reiterated a senior official from Genoa. “You have to be patient, because politics changes a lot. It is difficult, but not impossible”, adds a regional baron.

What is also taken for granted in the party is that Feijóo will try to find possible internal fissures in the ranks of the Socialists and will look for leaders who are critical of Sánchez’s strategy and his alliance with Puigdemont, on whom it depends entirely to re-edit the coalition. of government.

Already in the campaign, the leader of the PP advanced that, if he won the elections, he would call the PSOE barons to put pressure on Sánchez and for him to abstain from his investiture.

This scenario is discarded, but not the option of attracting possible disscolos, but not facing Feijóo’s investiture, but dynamiting a possible intention of the socialist candidate in Congress if he ties himself to Junts and ERC.

Especially if the payment is amnesty, as the Executive already values, or new steps towards Catalan self-determination.

Feijóo starts the round of contacts with a total of 172 supports in his pocket, his own 137 plus Vox’s 33 and the two from UPN and Coalición Canaria. An important majority that, however, is overshadowed by the majority of noes that it continues to have in the Lower House. Sánchez’s block seems impregnable.

But the leader of the PP will make a desperate attempt to attract the PNV, which has already denied Feijóo up to five times. Those of Ortuzar do contemplate a “courtesy” meeting with the investiture candidate, but they insist that they will not facilitate a PP government.

At this point, the PP will focus its dialogue with the jeltzales on the economic level, and will try to tempt them with more “financing” and “investments”, without ruling out a new Basque quota. Feijóo already demonstrated at the beginning of the year his commitment to the specificity of the tax system and the autonomy of the Basque Country when he distanced himself from Ciudadanos and Vox in the Senate and joined his votes to PSOE and PNV to process through the emergency route, without going through by commission or admit amendments, the updating of the quota and Basque concert.

It was one more gesture in his attempt to rebuild the bridges with the nationalists. But, for now, it has not managed to open cracks in the alliance between the PNV and Sánchez.

The popular ones also allude to the “responsibility” of those from Ortuzar to operate in an “intelligent” way within the framework of the investiture and mark distances with a block in which Bildu “is eating it by the feet”.

The proximity of the Basque elections reduces the margin for the PNV to get out of the pot and position itself in an equation in which, in addition, Vox is found.

But the popular leader could play one last trick with the jeltzales: not demand their yes to Feijóo’s investiture, but, at least, agree that they will not facilitate Sánchez’s either..

Together, valid interlocutor

The PP will only exclude EH Bildu from its round of contacts. But he will speak with the rest of the parliamentary forces, including the ERC or Junts. It is a strategic turn of Feijóo that denotes a certain anguish for not staying at the gates of Moncloa.

Just a few weeks ago, different spokespersons based in Genoa publicly denied that the PP was going to sit with the party of Carles Puigdemont, a “fugitive from Justice” and a “coup plotter” whose initials are “outside the Constitution”.

But the frame seems to have changed. So much so that the institutional deputy secretary, Esteban González Pons, minimized the process of “four people, five or 10” and justified his intention to call Junts in that it is a party “whose tradition and legality are not in doubt”. The goal is an abstention. The limits, they insist, continue to be in the Constitution.

SPAIN

Political Maneuvering and Strategic Alliances in Spanish Politics

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Alberto Núñez Feijóo has marked a path. But Pedro Sánchez and Yolanda Díaz will follow the one they had already traced, without deviating excessively from the course.

The leader of the PP has just over a month to try to gather support for his inauguration, between September 26 and 27, and the acting president and second vice president will take advantage of every minute before the advance countdown is activated election to do the same.

This Wednesday, shortly after Francina Armengol revealed that she will give the popular time to try to tie up support that today the left sees as impossible, Sumar revealed that she will hand over two deputies to ERC so that they can form their own group.

The PSOE, reluctant to reveal its steps, will do the same with its parliamentarians so that Junts sees this wish fulfilled. It is a courtesy gesture with several precedents, affirmed socialist sources, and confirmed it from the Government without giving many more clues.

A declaration of intent that comes to shield his strategy to form a majority that allows the investiture of Sánchez, which lands one of the demands formulated in the negotiations for the constitution of the Table, on August 17, and which seeks to lay the foundations for generate “confidence”, in the words of a member of the acting Executive.

Armengol’s decision to take into account the wishes of Feijóo, who initially wanted a plenary session as soon as possible and later chose to buy time to try to negotiate, surprised some sectors of the coalition parties.

The most common reading is that they have an extra month before the hands of the clock start to slip, that every minute counts to find the votes they need, which will be very difficult to tie up.

Feijóo has 172 endorsements, but in the PSOE and in Sumar they take it for granted that they can tie the 178 supports that would not only prevent the investiture of the PP leader, but would guarantee that of Sánchez, in the first round.

“Discretion” is the watchword between PSOE, Sumar and the pro-independence formations, but the talks continue. In parallel, Díaz’s party is already openly calling for an amnesty law for those prosecuted and convicted for their role in the Catalan process, a demand by Junts that can have a significant political cost, especially for the Socialists.

In the PSOE, they are more cautious and avoid the word amnesty, but Sánchez has gone from boasting that the independentistas have not achieved this claim, a little over a month ago, to rejecting the socialist mantra that the Constitution would not allow it. Sumar explores this path, and the PSOE does not reject it.

The fit, they explain from the socialist ranks, would be very delicate: beyond its legal dimension, which would have to be studied to the millimeter, it will be necessary to pamper aspects that even go through the name of the future norm, to try to reduce the damage that approval can cause them this amnesty.

On this path, however, in the PSOE and in Sumar they ridicule the actions of a PP that, after the elections, gave Junts legitimacy as an interlocutor, then took it away and for years has been very critical of this party, of Carles Puigdemont and with the group of pro-independence forces. This Wednesday, he recognized the “tradition and legality” of the party of the “fugitive from Justice”.

Seeing how Feijóo plans to talk with ERC, after years of political war between the two, seems almost poetic justice. And they believe, especially in Sumar, that it does not have any margin to scratch support.

That Borja Sémper, spokesman for the PP, appealed again to the socialist deputies, led the spokesman for the PSOE in Congress, Patxi López, to ask him to “stop fooling around”. While the Popular Party walks towards parliamentary failure, they insist, they move towards a plausible investiture.

However, the gesture towards Junts and ERC is not only symbolic. Having your own group guarantees access to an enormous amount of resources, starting with the grant of 30,000 euros per month per group and going through the right to recover the amount invested in electoral shipments on 23-J, and that only economically.

Having their own group guarantees visibility, more time for interventions and allows them to maintain a status that, without this agreement, neither group would have been able to revalidate.

This decision will go ahead by the majority of PSOE and Sumar at the Table (5/4) next Monday, but there are many other open fronts, such as the one that concerns the use of co-official languages in the Lower House, in which they are also working. Feijóo’s full investiture does not frustrate this roadmap.

SPAIN

Enhancing Whistleblower Protection and Collaboration in the Fight Against Corruption

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The fight against corruption in modern societies requires behaviors in addition to those of a pure regulatory framework in the penal or administrative sanctioning field.

To put it more clearly: the criminal reproach and, therefore, the administrative one have become insufficient to achieve a fight against pathological behaviors in the field of public corruption, first, and corruption between individuals, a posteriori.

The insufficiency derives from a host of factors ranging from the sophistication of the offender in the formulation of the crime to the ability to operate in countries where there are no conventional judicial relationships or where legal relationships are established in an unconventional manner..

This has led to a reduction in the degree of effectiveness of the police and judicial systems, no matter how much progress has been made in the regulations that regulate both areas..

From the verification of this reality, the eyes of the world, especially the Anglo-Saxon and the European Union itself, turned towards individuals. It was suggested that the effectiveness of this fight would only progress from citizen collaboration.

This consideration has forced, in turn, to reformulate the legal techniques for the protection of people who collaborate in the discovery of conducts that find a criminal or administrative classification..

In this context, as we say, the collaboration of the complainant is sought. The first technique that is imported from the field of competition is the one related to the reduction of the degree of responsibility and the sanction of the collaborating whistleblower.

The denunciation of the collaborator passes to our legislation and today is contemplated in the procedural norms of a common nature.

It is true, however, that the spectrum of collaboration could be broader than that referring to the one who has participated in the events and seeks their exculpation. Society as a whole has or can have a relevant role in this collaboration.

This is where the so-called complaint channels arise.. European legislation dedicated, initially, a series of efforts to encourage -more or less euphemistically speaking- the creation and management of channels.

But it is quickly observed that some elements of effectiveness suffer if the identity of the complainant can be known and, therefore, the possibilities of increasing the number are limited, especially if elements of coercion or retaliation begin to be appreciated.

This has led the Spanish legislator to issue Law 2/2023, of February 20, regulating the protection of people who report on regulatory violations and the fight against corruption. This law incorporates into Spanish Law Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of October 23, 2019.

Now the approach is broader as established in Article 1 of the same when it states that (the) “… purpose of granting adequate protection against reprisals that may be suffered by natural persons who report any of the actions or omissions to which referred to in article 2, through the procedures set forth therein…”.

Determination that is specified with the indication of the provisions in section 2 when it indicates that “… Its purpose is also to strengthen the culture of information, of the integrity infrastructures of organizations and the promotion of the culture of information or Communication as a mechanism to prevent and detect threats to the public interest…”.

It is true that the norm has a broader content than the simple protection. In this sense, the creation of an independent authority that must solve complaints of retaliation stands out, but also that can become an external channel that, with the guarantees of the public sphere, is the instrument for processing the complaints themselves.

This model of strong public commitment to the creation of an independent body and the linking of public resources to the denunciation system has created a relational framework with substantive administrative procedures (in which corruption may have occurred or in which the determination of responsibility against it) and, eventually, in the criminal field when the conducts in question affect this area of reproach.

This relational scope transcends the central objective of whistleblower protection to be inserted in the creation of a specific organization at the service of the fight against corruption.

The most obvious proof is that the Autonomous Community of Catalonia attributes, on an organic level, this competence to the Anti-Fraud Office.

This demonstrates that the relational sphere, beyond the protection of the whistleblower, is yet to be built and delimited.

This will be the work of the coming years and the effectiveness of the measures contemplated in the new regulation will depend, to a large extent, on its final operation.

SPAIN

Analyzing the Systemic Nature of Political Choices: Democracy, Economy, and Reforms

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This week, we have the national conversation taken over by the heat and two summer snakes: Rubiales and Thailand. However, what is coming will be more lasting.. And also more dramatic.

There will be speculation and disqualifications, the hoaxes will be uncorked, the news will come to us tinged with reality television. We will see fog of war in the whole landscape of September.

But, despite everything, there will be a moment of truth: an investiture at a critical time for Spain. We will see efforts to water down its significance in the eyes of public opinion. The Sherpas of the ruling party are already leading the way, placing the epithet failed that Moncloa selected.

They will be followed by the Tertullian troop, with military enthusiasm and the additional task of continuing to whitewash the amnesty. And, meanwhile, from the digital side, will come the spread of all kinds of conspiracies around the PP.

The same authors who denounced —with great feigned moral scandal— the dehumanization of Sánchez script, shoot and project new and violent chapters in multichannel mode for the destruction of Feijóo. Populism is also distinguished by the victimization capacity displayed by the aggressor.

Speculations cannot be avoided. There are only three paths towards the viability of the investiture: four votes of the PSOE, the abstention of the PNV or the exit of the muchachada de Puigdemont. Everything seems to indicate that interest will be concentrated around the latter, who, for the moment, has not said “this mouth is mine” regarding the investiture of the popular.

The foreseeable thing is that he does not raise his cards until the end. His silence reinforces his position of strength. Sánchez is very demanding now, he has to accelerate to close his negotiation with the man from Girona before the Galician begins his investiture speech. The rest is Russian roulette.

And speeding up means giving up. Not signing where indicated in Waterloo is a high-risk move for those who have just seen death in the race to the polls. Seen like this, it seems clear that he has a problem. Seen in panoramic mode, the pressure of the separatists is a problem for our country. We are facing an all or nothing game.

Precisely for this reason, the first investiture will be a transcendent trance, because it will be systemic and the following will not. And the systemic or anti-systemic character of the next Executive will not be innocuous for our society.

When an investiture is systemic, a government program is presented that is basically structured around three pillars:

protecting democracy from deterioration while strengthening the cohesion of the country, protecting market freedom while expanding opportunities, and protecting the future while applies a series of reforms that prevent the obsolescence of the Administration.

It is at these three points that the central forces – social democracy, liberals and conservatives of Western democracies – meet. The alternation in the exercise of power between these ideological currents tells the story of progress after World War II, and the ability to understand each other marks stable political functioning in neighboring nations.

This alternation is not a mere game of nuances. It is very tangible. The differences between the consequences of government being one political color or another can be, and often are, enormous.. But always, always, they are irreversible consequences, because neither social democrats nor conservatives ever get out of what we have indicated as transcendental.

It is impossible for a Social Democrat to agree with the government program that Feijóo will present. Surely you will think that it is insufficient in terms of equality, or in the salary issue, or unambitious regarding the territorial. Now, you will not be able to argue that the PP is located in the space of the systemic —democracy, market economy and reforms—. So far, all normal.

The novelty lies in the fact that for that same social democrat it is intellectually impossible to classify the government program that Sánchez could present as a social democrat.. You will be able to use very respectable sentimental reasons to support it, but, rationally, you will not be able to justify it, because the roadmap will be genetically anti-systemic.

With regard to the health of democracy, its vital signs, a social democratic government does not dry up any path of understanding with the other central party, it does not violate the mechanisms of separation of powers, it does not seek legal shortcuts, it does not legislate ad hominem, it does not colonize institutions, it does not use public money in propaganda, it does not submit its action to the whim of minorities, it does not accept or listen to anything that could remotely resemble an attempt to erode or destroy the constitutional architecture. With the addition of Sánchez, all this cannot go less, it can only go more.

Regarding the market economy, a social democratic government does not take measures that impoverish the middle classes, it does not endanger legal certainty, it does not attack or threaten businessmen —or workers such as truckers, whom it insulted—, it does not crush the self-employed, it does not trigger public debt, it does not break the principle of intergenerational solidarity, it does not promote patronage of populists through subsidies that turn off social elevators, it does not buy recipes from the communists, it does not break the principle of equality between citizens of the same country, that is, it does not allow a kid born in Cádiz to have fewer opportunities than another born in Donosti. With the addition of Sánchez, all this cannot go less, it can only go more.

Regarding the reforms, a social democratic government does not deny the evident need for consensus, condemning society to block major issues, it does not obscure transparency when it is easier to increase it, it does not use health as an electoral tool when the need to update national scale, it does not instrumentalize foreign policy as if it were a catwalk, it does not give 180 degree changes as in Morocco without giving explanations in Parliament, it does not make Spanish an dispensable subject in the classroom, it does not admit that there are zones — as it happens with sports— which seem mired in corruption, does not tolerate even the slightest shadow of doubt about the security forces or the intelligence organs of the country, does not divide feminism by naming dogmatics that make their management the greatest horror. With the addition of Sánchez, all this cannot go less, it can only go more.

As a minor result of the previous evidence, whoever wants that sum without blushing intellectually can describe himself as an independentista, a nationalist, a communist, a populist or a sanchista if he prefers.

But, if only out of respect for the cause and even out of honesty, he should not define himself as a social democrat.

And as a major, transcendental result, we Spaniards are faced with the possibility of one or two investitures and with the certainty that only one will be systemic. With its shortcomings, sure. But democracy, economy and reforms.

SPAIN

Andalusia’s Severe Drought Crisis: Water Shortages Grip the Region

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Andalusia begins to get used to the stamp of drought. In the north of Córdoba, where in spring they already saw how the first reservoir in Spain was emptied, some 72,000 people have not drunk tap water for four months.

The alternative proposed by the administration, the water from the La Colada reservoir, was found to be unfit for consumption. So the neighbors go to the tanker truck, fill their jugs and return home with the greatest number of liters possible..

The Andalusian community is the one that is suffering the most from the drought and expects the problem to worsen in the coming weeks.

The Andalusian reservoirs stand at 21.7% of their capacity, according to the latest data from the Ministry for Ecological Transition, which notes a new decline in recent days. At the moment, up to 120 Andalusian municipalities, almost all in rural areas, have limitations on the use of water.

If there is no rainfall, the restrictions will increase after the summer and it is inevitable that weariness will begin to be felt in some sectors of the population.

On the coast of La Janda, in the province of Cádiz, the problem has been dragging on for years and is at its worst. Hundreds of unlicensed homes and businesses extracted water through wells, in many cases illegal, until the drought left them salinated or empty.

The alternative was a water transport company that was making gold in the midst of a drought, although it has recently received a lock from the administration due to the health risk posed by the uncontrolled supply in several of the fashionable Cadiz destinations.

The response of businesses and residents, some of whom have been left without water, has been to call demonstrations in front of the affected town halls and in the Delegation of the Junta in Cádiz.

To avoid this type of problem, the Ministry of Health has issued a circular to establish the bases that will allow the regulation of supply businesses in Cuba. Until now they were in a legal vacuum, but these companies depend more and more scattered or off-line coastal areas. The collaboration of the municipalities will be essential.

In total, in Andalusia there are up to 45,000 homes without a license, a problem dragged on for years that the Andalusian Government intends to solve with the new Law List.

Córdoba, Huelva and Málaga, the most affected

In any case, many Andalusian municipalities have gotten used to seeing tanker trucks on their streets this summer. Town halls such as Casariche, in Seville, have installed tank trucks and provisional tanks so that residents can fill “bottles and buckets” and have water at home during supply cuts, which are increasingly widespread.

In the Sierra de Huelva, there are towns with up to 11 hours of supply interruptions. They almost always take place at night, although in some cases, especially on weekends, they can also take place in the afternoon. The supply problems and the contamination of the aquifers, with reserves “practically depleted”, place Huelva as one of the most affected provinces.

In Malaga, for its part, there are up to thirty municipalities with restrictions. Almost 80% of the population is suffering measures of some kind, although the worst situation is in the Axarquía, a region where the Junta has proposed several hydraulic works, with the Viñuela reservoir at 8% of its capacity.

Vélez-Málaga, with more than 80,000 inhabitants, is the most populous Andalusian municipality among those affected by the water cuts. In the coastal zone, as in the entire Andalusian coast, many municipalities have chosen to cut off the water in showers or footbaths on the beaches.

Granada and Almería are free of supply cuts for the moment, while in Jaén there have only been occasional cuts in two towns. Future saving measures will depend on the drought management committees, dependent on both the central government and the Board, which will be held after the summer.

In these weeks there have been no extraordinary calls and sources from the regional administration rule out an urgent meeting in the coming weeks. In addition, they celebrate that, except for the difficulties in the most affected municipalities, in most of the territory the supply has been guaranteed even in the face of tourism growth.

The PP has been demanding more investments in hydraulic infrastructures from the central government, highlighting the actions of the regional Executive in recent months. In fact, the Board has come to propose the redirection of European funds for this type of works, which would reduce the impact of the drought in the most affected regions.